IP: EFF Reacts to Senate E-PRIVACY Act

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 CONTACT:  BARRY STEINHARDT  203 226 4897
MAY 12, 1998                                            ALEXANDER FOWLER  202 986 4141


EFF Reacts to  Senate E-PRIVACY Act


The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) termed the "Encryption Promotes
the Rights of Individuals in the Virtual Arena Using Computers" (E-PRIVACY)
Act introduced into the Senate today as "the most thoughtful piece of
encryption legislation to date."  At the same time, EFF expressed concern
that it does not go far enough to remove the restrictions on the use of
strong encryption and contains some provisions that threaten privacy rights.


Introduced by Senators John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) and Patrick J. Leahy
(D-Vt.),Conrad Burns (R-Montana), the new bill sharply differs from Clinton
Administration proposals by easing export controls on mass market
encryption products, limiting government access to decryption keys, and
prohibiting the government from requiring key recovery mechanisms.  It also
provides important new protections for private information held by third
parties.


"Senators Ashcroft, Leahy and Burns are to be congratulated for introducing
the most thoughtful piece of encryption legislation to date," said EFF
President Barry Steinhardt.  "The basic thrust of the bill is consistent
with the desire of privacy advocates to encourage the use of strong
encryption, which are the lock and keys of the digital age.  We hope to
work with the Senators to expand the reach of the bill and to remove those
sections, which enhance governmental power at the expense of personal
privacy," Steinhardt continued.=20


Steinhardt said EFF particularly applauded the provisions in the bill,
which provided privacy protections for stored electronic data held by third
parties, location information generated by wireless communications
services, and transactional information obtained from pen registers and
trap and trace devices.


But he said that EFF had concerns about other aspects of the bill.  Noting
that EFF represents academic cryptographer Daniel Bernstein in his
thus-far-successful challenge to the constitutionality of the Clinton
Administration's restrictions on strong encryption, Steinhardt said that
EFF was disappointed that the bill did not provide any relief for academic
and research work. "Existing U.S. controls on the export of encryption
products and technology need to be repealed for everyone, not simply
mass-market producers of encryption software," he said.  "Legislators need
to acknowledge that cryptography is a science in which the United States
has always been a leader, and the science of cryptography needs to grow and
develop through the free and open exchange of ideas among scientists,
academics, and others around the world," Steinhardt concluded.


Steinhardt said that EFF had several other concerns about the bill.  Among
them:


=B7 Overly broad provisions requiring key holders to release a decryption=
 key
to a foreign country without regard to whether those countries recognize
the broad speech and privacy rights of individuals accorded to Americans;
=B7 The creation of new penalties for using cryptography in the commission=
 of
a crime, which EFF views as unnecessary and which will discourage the
widespread use of strong encryption; and
=B7 The National Electronic Technologies (NET) Center that would be
established under the bill.  The NET Center would concentrate new resources
in the hands of intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency
(NSA).


Citing the historical example of the NSA pressuring the wireless telephone
industry into
weakening the encryption in digital cellular phones, Steinhardt said that
EFF was "gravely concerned that the NET Center will result in the
intelligence agencies inserting themselves into domestic policy and strong
arming the business community into compromising encryption products."


The Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the leading civil liberties
organizations devoted to the protection of online privacy and free
expression.  Founded in 1990 as a nonprofit, public interest organization,
EFF is based in San Francisco, California.  EFF maintains an extensive
archive of information on privacy and free speech at http://www.eff.org.


+++


__________________________________________________________________________


Barry Steinhardt (Barrys () eff org),President
Electronic Frontier Foundation
East Coast:     tel/fax:+ 1 203 226 4897=20
West Coast:     tel:  + 1 415 436 9333 (V)
West Coast:   fax  +  1 415 436 9993 (f)
1550 Bryant Street Ste 725
San Francisco,CA 94103


You can find EFF on the Web at <http://www.eff.org>


EFF supports the Global Internet Liberty Campaign
<http://www.gilc.org>